Process of treating hydrocarbons



35 tion which may 15 longer periods of. time,

Patented July 8, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE- JAGQUE c. monnnnt, oncmcaeo, rumors, ASSIGNOB ro mum on. raonuc'rs COMPANY, OI CHICAGO,HILINOIS, A CORPORATION OF SOUTH DAKOTA PROCESS OF TREATING EYDROCABBONSIl'o Drawing. Application filed October 15, 1923, Serial No. 668,481.Renewed July 28, 1927- cracked residual (oils to eliminate the setv outofmore or less of the coke formmg particles therein; Y With the advancemade in the cracking of hydrocarbon Oils in the past few years,

there hasarisen an ever increasing problem in that some of: theresidualoils withdrawn from the still or expansion chamber have acertain amount of coke forming substantially solid" particles suspendedtherein. These particles remain in suspensionfor short or but eventuallysettle out. For instance, a crtain'portion may settle in the run-downlines with a consequent slowing up of. the flow and eventual cloggingupto the pipe. When used as fuel, the larger coke forming particles ofthe residual oil will eventually clog the'nozzle of the burner pipe.These coke forming or pitch-likeparticles are dispersed throughout anexternal phase consisting of relatively clear oil. The particlesin theinternal phase vary in size but a greatmany of them, and especially theag gregate, can be seen with a microscope. l have'discovered that'bysta'blizing the eiike forming particles in the oil, a state resemblingemulsification exists, and the coke iori'ning particles remain suspendedin the oil more or less permanently. This stabilization is produced asfollows:

I subjectsome residual oils to homogenizabe accomplis'hdd by forcing theoil under high pressure through small minute apertures in order toobtain a finely divided dispersion, or the homogenization may beaccomplished by subjecting the par- 40 ticles to mechanical impact whichwill tend' to break the substantially solid coke form- With some oils,

or the oil subjected to a strain ing particles,

to cause breaking of the larger particles into smaller particles in theusual colloid mill. it may be desirable to apply mogemzing heat beforeattempting to homogenize, as a semi-solid will homogenize more readilythan a solid. In addition, it has been found that these particles oraggregates of the particles will assume a globular semi-solid form whensubjected to heat. V

Homogenization of certain types of residual' oils will not stabilize thecoke forming particles so as to secure a substantially .permanentsuspension. I propose to add a stabilizing agent, usually of a colloidnature and soluble in the oil, for instance, soaps of the alkaline earthmetals, such as calcium and magnesium oleate, stearate or resinate, tothe oil. The mixture is then agitated for a period of time suflicient tomake a substantially permanent suspension, the oil being in the externalphase, and the coke forming particles in the internal phase.

The agitation may be accomplished by" the homogenization heretoforeexplained.

By treating the residual oils in the manner desbribed, it has been foundthat a relatively stable suspension is produced, resulting in adispersion of the coke forming particles through the oils, which willremain sushomogenized, or the alkaline earth soap may be dissolvedfirst'in a lighter oil such as gas oil, and'this solution added to thecracked residual oil so that the final proportions of the soap-in theoil is 01 to 2%. Y Y

I claimas my invention:

resulting from thesubjection of hydrocarbon oil to cracking conditionswhich comprises subjecting said residual oil containing suspended cokeor pitch-like particles to a hoaction.

2. A stabilized liquid fuel obtained by sub- 1. A;process forstabilizing residual oils jectinga cracked residual oil containing freecarbon in temporary suspension to a homogenizip'g action. 7

3. "A liquid fuel obtained by passing wresidual oil containing 'freecarbon in temporary suspension between a. pair of closely contiguoussurfaces under relatively e'xtreme- 1y high ressure.

4. A liquid fuel obtained by passing a residual-oil containing freeearbon in tempoary suspension between closely adjacent surfaces underhigh pressnre v v JACQUE C. MQRRELL.

